__ __ ______ _____ ________ ______
_ \/ /_______________ /____(_)_______ ___ __/_________ __________ /_
__ /_ __ \_ ___/_ __ \_ /__ ___/ __ / _ __ \ / / / ___/_ __ \
_ / / /_/ /(__ )_ / / / / _(__ ) _ / / /_/ / /_/ // /__ _ / / /
/_/ \____//____/ /_/ /_//_/ /____/ /_/ \____/\__,_/ \___/ /_/ /_/
_________ _________
______ _____________ / __ ____/_____
_ __ `/_ __ \ __ / _ / __ _ __ \
/ /_/ /_ / / / /_/ / / /_/ / / /_/ /
\__,_/ /_/ /_/\__,_/ \____/ \____/
==================================================
Yoshi's Touch & Go FAQ
Copyright (c)2005 Sarah Dodd
9th Feb 2005
Do not reproduce this FAQ without the owners express permission
Email: chamaelleo [at] aol [dot] com
===================================================
============================
Contents
============================
1) Notices and Updates
-Version
2) The Game
-The Story
-Enemies
3) Controls
-Clouds
-Eggs
-Jumping
-Blowing
4) The Stages
-Baby Mario Stage
-Yoshi Stage
5) The Main Modes
-Score Attack
-Endless
-Time Attack
-Challenge
6) Types of Level
-Endless stages
7) Multiplayer/VS
8) Yoshi Colours
9) Fruit
10) Unlockables + extras
11) Tactics
12) Disclaimer
13) Contact Information
14) Thanks
============================
Notices and Updates
============================
This is my first FAQ! Though I've been gaming for many, many years I've
never got round to writing one of these outside work. Therefore, please
bear with me, no doubt I'll probably miss some things!
Please do contact me if you have any information that I have omitted.
Version
--------
Version 1. 9th Feb 2005
Version 2. 11th Feb 2005 Updated further information that has come to
light after playing more. Added descriptions
for the types of level. Corrected some
grammar, formatting and spelling.
Version 2.1 12th Feb 2005 Updated some grammatical and formatting
problems. Added a small amount of information.
Version 2.2 12th Feb 2005 Added two more pieces of information and a
thanks section.
============================
The Game
============================
My Japanese is not fantastic, so I won't try and translate the manual, nor
much of the game (refer to the Japanese translation by Trinity). However,
this game needs very little knowledge of Japanese to play, if any, and will
no doubt still be relevant information for future Western releases.
The story
---------
Poor Baby Mario and Luigi are snatched from a stalk who was flying them off
to their awaiting parents. With the help of various coloured Yoshis,
you must guide baby mario to safety (though the exact objective changes
depending on which stage you're playing - see The Modes).
This game could be considered to be short and limited, to a point. The only
comparison it has with previous Yoshi titles is its name. Aside from the,
the action revolves around puzzle and side scrolling shooter type games. The
player never has any real control over Yoshi, other than effecting the path
infront of him by laying clouds and moving enemies.
It has 4 main modes, a multiplayer VS option (single pak) and an
unlockable Balloon popping mini-game.
You are battling yourself (and no doubt your friends) to gain the highest
colour Yoshi possible, and the highest score possible, and in many cases,
both. It can become as addictive as any good classic side-scroller (think
Defender and so forth), and less predictable, as the stages you come across
are often placed in a random order and spliced together, and as you go
further, many more enemies will be thrown your way, meaning you need a great
deal of concentration and hand eye coordination!
Enemies
---------
There are a variety of enemies and obstacles within Yoshi's Touch and Go.
These include Baron Von Zeppelin (from Yoshi's Island fame), shyguys, a
variety of flyguys (normal, with bombs, and divebombers) monkeys, spiky
mines (red and green), fish, ghosts, piranhas and birds, all trying to stop
Yoshi advancing.
All of these can be dispatched with an egg, and all can be circled in
clouds with the exception of spiky mines and blue fish (and anything in the
top screen of course). Any missiles fired at you from an enemy (monkeys,
flyguys) can be stopped with a well placed egg.
============================
Controls
============================
With the stylus, you can have a number of effects.
Clouds
--------
First and foremost, by touching the screen and dragging the stylus, lines of
clouds are produced to aid Baby Marios fall or Yoshi's path.
These clouds can also be used to make bubbles by drawing a circle. If this
is done around an enemy, it will turn into an amount of coins. You can now
throw or push this bubble around to make it go where you wish. Thrown fast
enough, they can push baby mario and Yoshi off course slightly.
Eggs
--------
On the Yoshi stage, tapping on the screen will fire an egg in the direction
of the crosshairs on screen. By doing this, you can hit things out of reach
and rebound eggs off walls to capture otherwise unreachable coins.
You can also make fruit fall from its position so that Yoshi can eat it and
replenish eggs. When baby mario turns into super mario, he can fire star
missiles the same way.
Jumping
--------
By tapping on Yoshi/on his feet, he will jump. This is very useful for those
times when you've got him stuck in a heap clouds or for dodging obstacles.
If timed well, you can also jump on the heads of certain enemies to dispatch
them.
By tapping again on Yoshi once he is in the air, he will perform his infamous
'flying' move, which prolongs his time in the air. By pressing on him
repeatedly at the correct time (just before he starts falling again), you can
make him cross much larger gaps with this move. He will also do this
automatically for a short time if he runs out of path.
Blowing
--------
By blowing on the microphone (however not in multiplayer), the player can
clear all clouds that are present on the screen. This is very useful if
you've mis-drawn a path, or got Yoshi trapped.
Another way of getting rid
of bundles of unwanted clouds is to rub the stylus up and down behind Yoshi,
creating lines of clouds. As there is a finite number of clouds, this will
clear any blocking his path.
============================
The Stages
============================
Each of the 4 modes (Score Attack, Endless, Time Attack and Challenge) are
split into 2 stages, the Baby Mario stage, and the Yoshi stage.
Baby Mario Stage
----------------
In the Baby Mario (henceforth 'BM') stage, you guide BM downwards, towards
the ground, by drawing clouds that he can fall onto, avoiding enemies and
pushing him into the line of coins and stars. BM has three balloons
attached to his back (lucky that!) to aid his fall, and thus you are able
to 'safely' touch 2 enemies before the last balloon bursts and BM plunges
to his doom.
BM stays in the top screen at all times, so you never actually touch him.
You pre-empt his fall by creating pathways to make him fall in the
direction you want. While doing this, you can also circle enemies to trap
them and turn them into coins, thus clearing a path for BM and adding to
the score by throwing these coin filled bubbles towards him.
Depending on what score is reached, varying colours of Yoshi will appear
to catch him in the nick of time when the stage finishes. The other major
importance of these different coloured Yoshis (apart from being marked on
your high score) is that they can each hold more eggs than the previous
colour. This simple fact becomes absolutely invaluable in later stages of
Endless or harder stages such as Time attack and Challenge, when you have
many enemies to contend with, and running out of eggs isn't a safe option!
In the BM stage of both Time Attack and Challenge, little stars will be
scattered throughout the stage, turning BM into super BM if he touches them
(taking its lead from Yoshi's Island). At this point BM speeds up and
becomes invincible, meaning he can kill enemies on touch. On the Yoshi
parts of the stages, super BM can also fire an unlimited number of star
missiles into the air to clear paths and gain as many more star points
as possible (explained later).
Yoshi Stage
------------
In the 2nd part of each level, you take control of Yoshi. Yoshi is
constantly travelling to the right, so you must act quickly. This now
becomes something akin to a side-scrolling shooter and platformer.
Yoshi can fire eggs at enemies and switches, against walls and at fruit
(which replenish eggs). At the same time, the user can circle most enemies
(certain spiky enemies cannot be caught) to trap them in bubbles and turn
them into coins, making them harmless. Fruit can also be caught in bubbles
so that they can be dragged to Yoshi's location.
Obviously, as only the bottom DS screen is a touch screen, only enemies
on the bottom screen can be circled in such a manner, so you'll have to
dispatch things on the top screen with eggs. Whilst doing all this, the
player will need to be continually drawing a path of clouds for Yoshi using
the stylus. Though Yoshi can walk on the ground, there are many various
gaps (and even stages where the wind will blow away everything draw so
far), so the player has to constantly be aware of the path ahead.
============================
The Main Modes
============================
Yoshi's Touch and Go opens with 2 playable modes. Score Attack and Endless.
Challenge Mode can be opened when you have reached over 3000 metres in
Endless, and Time Attack when you have reached over 300 points in Score
Attack (i.e. achieving first place on the leaderboards).
Score Attack
-------------
Score Attack is just that, a stage to gain as high a score as possible before
reaching the end of the stage, If you gain a high enough score, baby Luigi
will be flown down by the stalk to meet you at the end of the Stage. The
layout of both the Mario Stage and Yoshi Stage of Score Attack, and the
enemies on each, are constant.
Endless
-------------
Endless is a supposedly endless mode in which you aim for the longest distance
possible. After playing the BM stage, Yoshi picks him up and sets on his way.
At every 1000 metres Yoshi will hand over BM to another Yoshi for a
further and more difficult 1000 metres. Depending on what colour Yoshi
you achieved on the BM stage, you will sometimes upgrade colours. Once
Black Yoshi has been achieved (can be as early as the end of the BM stage
if you gain over 160 points), you will not upgrade until the 10k metre mark
unless you achieve a performance related arctic blue/white yoshi.
Another important thing to note is the star system. Gaining points by
hitting enemies adds to the counter. When you reach 100, the star will flash,
and (depending on where you are in your current 1000 metres) a little star in
a small bubble with soon appear on stage. Dragging this to Yoshi will turn
mario into super mario. He can now run along, invincible, shooting an
infinite number of star missiles until he changes back to BM and Yoshi takes
over. He also jumps much higher and runs much faster, and if you play well
and are in an enemy filled area, you can stack up a high star number before
giving control back to Yoshi, meaning you are almost ready to change back
again. If you are near the end of the stage, the star will appear at the
beginning of your next 1000m.
Time Attack
-------------
Time Attack Mode sees Luigi carried off by group of Baron Von Zeppelins (see
Yoshi's Island). You must rescue him as quickly as possible. To do this,
once controlling Yoshi, you must rush through the stage until Baby Luigi
appears in the clutches of the Baron Von Zeppelin. To release him, have yoshi
shoot eggs at the Baron Von Zeppelins. When this is done a few times
consecutively, one Baron Von Zeppelin will drop off. You must hit him quickly
before he rejoins the group to have him disappear completely. Continue
this until all the Baron Von Zeppelins are gone and Baby Luigi will drop into
the cranes grasp. In the BM stage of this mode, stars appear for the first
time (see BM stage under 'the stages').
Challenge
-------------
Challenge is another mode in which you are aiming for the longest distance
possible. However in Challenge you are up against more than just enemies.
After the BM stage (which includes stars), Yoshi will be up against a timer
in the top right of the screen, which ticks down as you progress. When the
timer reaches 0, a Baron Von Zeppelin will kidnap mario and your distance
score is recorded. To fill the timer, you must shoot enemies and
obstructions. As usual, bonuses (by catching two or more enemies together,
or by hitting many obstructions in a row) add extra time.
============================
Types of level
============================
There are various different types of Yoshi and Mario stage you will come
across in Yoshi's Touch and Go.
The Mario stages are very similar. The layout of the enemies and coins will
change through set patterns, and the background will change also.
The Yoshi stages have the most variety, however still follow similar guides.
Each of the Yoshi stages (or every new 1000m) has an underground area in the
middle, usually completely devoid of enemies, and often filled with fruit
and big scoring coins.
Endless mode stages
--------------------
There are also 6 main Yoshi stage variations for Endless.
1) The background is adorned with rock formations, from which appear spiky
ball throwing enemies. Lots of coins only available by bouncing eggs off
walls.
2) Most of the level is underground, with large caverns and small tunnels,
often making for tricky shooting. Filled with bomb throwing flyguys, bats
and ghosts.
3) Grey platforms are scattered over this level, which will wobble and fall
if Yoshi stays on them. A wind will sometimes pick up, blowing away all
clouds on the screen (you will get an audio and visual clue just before this
happens.
4) There are many bridges in this stage, covering water and jumping
fishes. Watch for the blue spiky fishes which can only be hurt with eggs.
5) A jungle like stage, your biggest enemies are the monkeys climbing up and
down the trees throwing spiky balls (and sometimes bananas).
6) A plain stage, with an average amount of drops, water, and a variety of
enemies.
All the above appear randomly throughout Endless. As you progress, the number
of enemies and difficulty increases though you may replay the same stage
layout.
Challenge uses a jungle and plain scenario, with a large amount of spiky
mines blocking your way.
Time Attack has a few large hills, taking Yoshi into the top screen and uses
a plain background.
Score Attack uses the plain setup also and has a constant layout.
============================
Multiplayer / VS
============================
The multiplayer on Yoshi's Touch and Go is single pak, meaning you only need
one copy of the game to play a versus match. The premise is to reach the
Goal line (at 1000m) first, though in practice this seems to happen quite
rarely as you can make things very difficult for your opponent by your
actions. You are able to see you opponents screen in the top DS screen, as
well as the distance they have reached.
Each screen will have a random layout of spiky green mines and fruit,#
however you can add further problems to your challenger by hitting 3 or more
obstacles in a row with an egg. This will cause an identical number of red
mines to appear in random positions on your opponents screen, making for a
tricky situation.
It may be worth noting that by keeping Yoshi on the clouds, he will move at
a greater speed than if walking along the ground.
============================
Yoshi colours
============================
========== ========== ==========
Points Colour Egg amount
========== ========== ==========
<60 Green Yoshi 20
60-79 Sky Blue Yoshi 25
80-99 Pink Yoshi 30
100-119 Dark Blue Yoshi 35
120-139 Yellow Yoshi 40
140-159 Red Yoshi 45
160+ Black Yoshi 50
For every point above 160 score in the baby mario stage, Black Yoshi will
carry one more egg in his respective stage. Thus if you gain a score of 172
in the baby mario mode, Black Yoshi will carry 62 eggs.
10000m Endless Bronze Yoshi 60
Performance related White Yoshi Unlimited
In Endless mode, white Yoshi is sometimes achieved at the end of a set of 1000m
White Yoshi will remain in play for 1000m before handing back to Black Yoshi.
If you are on White Yoshi from 9000m to 10000m, he will hand over to bronze
yoshi instead.
White yoshi has an unlimited supply of eggs which lasts for the duration of his
1000m. It seems that the performance of the previous 1000m (number of enemies
killed/number of times turned into super mario) bears an effect on whether
you'll change to white yoshi or not.
Let me know if you find any more!
============================
Fruit
============================
Fruit appears intermittently throughout the levels. If not already in reach,
you may hit it with eggs to make it drop onto your awaiting path, or circle
it and drag it to Yoshi yourself.
========== ==========================
Type of Fruit Number of Eggs replenished
========== ==========================
Apple 1
Banana 3
Watermelon 5
Grape 10
Melon 20
============================
Unlockables and extras
============================
As mentioned, Challenge Mode can be opened when you have reached over
3000 metres in Endless, and Time Attack when you have reached over 300
points in Score Attack.
The different colour Yoshis are mentioned above. Having played to 10,000m on
Endless with a black Yoshi, you upgrade to a orange/bronze yoshi. You can also
briefly ride on a white/artic blue yoshi if you do particularly well in the
previous 1000m.
Yoshi's Touch and Go also includes a pictochat seeking ability, meaning you
can decide whether to be alerted (by sound or icon) if someone enters a
pictochat room in your vicinity, and from the game, transport straight into
pictochat (no doubt to challenge the person to a game of Yoshi multiplayer
immediately)!
On the highscore board, the Yoshi icon will have either a closed or open
(smiling) mouth. Yoshi will have an open mouth if the score has been
ahieved in one go from the baby mario stage to the end of the yoshi stage,
without restarting the Yoshi stage again.
(Thanks to TripSkyWay)
Balloon Pop mini-game
----------------------
Once you achieve a high score in each of the four stages, different coloured
balloons will begin to float along the title screen. Popping one of these
by pressing the right side of the screen takes you to this mini-game. While
active, you must pop as many of the coloured balloons as possible in a given
amount of time. Some coloured balloons seem to give a larger score than others,
and have varying sounds too.
============================
Tactics
============================
By circling two or more enemies or coins within clouds, you can cause a
bubble to turn gold and add a bonus to the amount you would normally received.
Eggs are your most valuable commodity in this game. As such, getting a
high coloured Yoshi in the BM stage is very helpful for stages such as
Endless. Also, there is absolutely no need to shoot eggs at every enemy
on screen, though tempting - you will soon run out. Instead, circle enemies
on the lower screen, preferably 2 or more together making for bonuses, and
use your eggs for the top screen, hitting those valuable egg producing fruit,
or ridding yourself of fast moving or spiky enemies in your direct path.
Particularly in Endless, your aim is to go as far as possible. If you want to
gain a great distance, you'd be wise you save your eggs! Apart from getting
enough points to turn mario super, you don't need to kill everything you see
- just clear a path along the bottom, preferably by circling things, and once
you have enough stars to powerup, use it to maximum effect, hopefully making
you well over half way towards another powerup star before you regain control
of Yoshi.
On the baby mario stage, you will receive a bonus for collecting the coins
without missing any - this is apparent when you miss one, and a number will
flash up, showing how many you got in a row.
At the end of the baby mario stage, you can hit the treetops with the stylus
to find further hidden coins, hopefully pushing you towards that next Yoshi
colour!
============================
Disclaimer:
============================
Copyright (c)2005 Sarah Dodd
All rights reserved. Please do not modify or reproduce this document without
the express permission of the author.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
The data contained herein is provided for informational purposes only.
============================
Contact information:
============================
If you have any further info or anything you think has been omitted,
constructive thoughts and comments, or just want to say hi, do get in touch at
Chamaelleo [at] aol [dot] com
============================
Thanks
============================
Thanks goes to:
TripSkyWay, for further information regarding white Yoshi and
confirmation of the open/closed mouth icon.
Hanafuda for putting up a high score page and a great review, making me want
to write this faq.
FORTIX for first discovering the white yoshi and pushing me to do so!
To all three for constantly updating their own high scores for some great
competition.